This is Where We Remember
by Saving the world is my weakness
Summary: Severus couldn't believe that the woman he had fallen in love with has disappeared on him without a single trace. Now, thirteen years later, she has reappeared as her 11 year old self. Through private letters to her future self, Severus hopes to come to terms with everything and hopes that he will still be here when his Hermione comes back to him. (Time travel with a twist)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello everyone and welcome, there are a great many things in which I would like to address first and foremost, I do not own anything and I do not make any profit from this story or any of my other ones. Most plot ideas are my own but with the help of J.K.R. and the wonderful world and characters she has created for us. This story is another one of those time-turner stories, but with an original twist. Everything will be CANNON or as close to it as possible (obviously there will be OOC, since it is a Severus/Hermione fic) and I do have the final Chapter of this story done. Where this becomes original is that these chapters are told from Severus' side of things and mostly of what happens currently through the Harry Potter books. The only time we go back in time is when Severus talks about certain memories. Now up until that point is where it is original and hopefully one of a kind in aspect that when we dawn upon the final battle Hermione will stumble back in time this part becomes up to you, the readers, I have not fully decided if I will write Hermione's full time in the past with 7th year Severus, or I will simply skim over to the major parts that are needed for you to progress to the ending. What I mean by this, is there will be a point in the story where I will tell the side of how Hermione stumbles upon her special mission from Dumbledore and how she must execute it, as the reader you may weigh in on the decision of if I should go into many chapters of details of her time with Severus, how their love had blossomed and how they formed their bond, or I simply will skip Her version of events in the past with 7th year Severus and simply give you the puzzle pieces that will help lead our journey to the end of this story. I even can leave the option of having a separate story that simply deals with Her side of events that takes place in the past. There will be minimum OC if any at all. I am very excited for this story and hope that you are as well. Now to the main understanding of this story: It is half told in letters to Hermione, a therapeutic effort of Severus', in order to express his thoughts and feeling but also it is told in third person, So that we glimpse his days and some of the thoughts of others. I suggest you read the first chapter to get the gist of it. A side note, to those who are following the other two stories that I am currently writing, I have not abandon it! I simply have had a bad case of writers block and hope that with this story I may be able to pick back up with them soon.

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 _Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.- Edger Allen Poe_

* * *

 _Dearest Hermione,_

 _It's the first of term and as like the rest of the last thirteen years worth of first days, my memories take me back to the first day I met you._

 _Do you remember?_

 _Dumbledore had unwisely placed you in Slytherin house, almost throwing you to the dogs as it were. You carried on still, with your head held high even though you seemed to know that your new housemates would devour you alive. I can remember the way your cheeks seemed so hollow then, your hair so rugged and straw like. You looked as if you had been through hell and back, but when your eyes swept over me as you sat across the redwood table. I could see that they held a certain kind of sadness and the pain of having experienced too much. You were so thin too, as if you hadn't eaten a good meal in months, and you had a nervous tick of constantly looking over your shoulder; it still didn't help that Dumbledore threw you to the wolves as he did._

 _I still never forgave him for it._

 _This year her son will be in attendance, I'm dreading every moment of it. I can almost hear you now, "Severus Snape, you don't even know him! He could be the most wonderful and caring person in the world!" You were always such a compassionate person, but I wonder, where is that compassion now? You took everything and left me here to rot, as was your want! Some days I hate you and wish you were dead, that I might have had the chance to do it myself, if for nothing more than to have closure, knowing that you no longer existed somewhere out there in the world. If it were not for Lily and the memories of you that she so passionately preserved, I would have been lost to the darkness forever more. Yet, she had reminded me of you and the walls that I had built up came crumbling down. I was saddened when she passed, but I had promised in memory of you, to protect her boy. So there I sat at the head table like every year, remembering the day that our lives first crossed paths, Minerva walking in with the new crop of first years…_

Severus saw the little shite before Quirrell had the galls to stutter about the boy's presence. The buffoon had excitedly begun to drone on about how he had met the boy at the Leaky Cauldron and Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew that the path he had chosen in life would forever entwine himself to the Potter's, it was inevitable, but so was his life. It was not his own, everyone using him as some pawn in their little games.

 _And somewhere along the line I began to believe that you had used me too!_

Severus turned his gaze away, only half listening to Minerva's first year speech. It was the same as every year and he frankly could have cared less as the sorting began. His stern gaze eventually fell upon some of the newly sorted Slytherin's, surveying his new crop of self-entitled dunderheads that he had to pretend to tolerate for the next 7 years or, till the end of his life. Which ever decided to come first. Sometimes he wondered why he was still even there, but the memories of her were his own form of prison. Constantly reminding him that this was a more desirable punishment for the things he had done, for the things that would still later on be asked of him.

It was only through years of spying that kept his composure of cool and indifference, when he heard Minerva's aged Scottish voice, slightly higher with a hint of shrill as she called the next name.

"Granger, Hermione."

Her expressive old eyes twinkled with excitement as if she were finally seeing a friend she hadn't seen in ages. Severus tried not to look, to not give in, but his gaze caught his fellow colleague and he almost felt as if he were in a dream. There before him, the girl who had stolen everything, came bounding up the steps towards the sorting hat. Her obnoxiously frizzy mane, bouncing with each step as she turned towards the other students, waiting as the hat was placed upon her head and began to whisper sweet words of wisdom into her youthful mind. He couldn't believe his eyes and as the hat shouted "Gryffindor", Severus was still trying his best to break his gaze as it followed her to her place at her house table. Minerva still beaming like a shooting star, quickly called Potter's name and that was when Severus finally stopped staring and gave a murderous glare towards the Headmaster.

Dumbledore could feel the weight of the troubled man's stare, boring into the side of his face as if he were trying to make a scene right then and there. He would not give into the man, now was neither the time nor the place to speak of things that were almost long ago forgotten, yet a constant reminder of his everyday living hell. Dumbledore was the one who had tortured the man's soul; he was to blame for the younger man's darkened path in life, yet Dumbledore found ways to justify his actions. He had created that hunger in Severus, to win, to fight, to survive in the first war, and soon the next one as well. If he did not guilt and push Severus, if it had not been for the helpful manipulation of Lily Potter, Severus would not have been sitting at the same table as him. Severus would not have been the spy he was today and he would most certainly not have lived his life in misery by joining the ranks of the Death Eaters. If the very same Hermione Granger was not tasked with an important mission by his future self, Dumbledore was sure that Severus would have been settled down by now. Mixing potions in a forgotten shop, in a forgotten place, forgotten from time and history as was his want and wish in life.

This was not Albus Dumbledore's want for the pure talent that Severus Tobias Snape possessed.

No, Albus did not meet the man's glare, simply busying himself with making sure that everything she had told him 20 years before, exactly played out if they intended to win this war, if they intended to save the magical world once and for all.

Severus was beside himself with rage, Albus had simply refused to meet his gaze and that only seemed to fuel the fire even more so. He wanted to grab the ancient redwood table and flip it, to throw it as far as his strength would allow and then he wanted nothing more but to blast it into tiny slivers that resembled toothpicks. He wanted to light every banner in the great hall ablaze, to feel the burning of Fiendfye all around him as he destroyed everything. Yet, the most overwhelming feeling that burned through him the most was the need to run and hide, to be away from the endless torment that seemed to constantly find him.

The more he stared at the old man, the more it angered him that he would not meet his gaze and Severus finally understood that the wizard knew. His eyes snapped to where the girl sat, placing food onto her plate with a grace that most 6th years did not yet posses. His face and eyes never betraying the hurt and whirlwind of emotions as the stuttering Quirrell continued to mumble on about something or other. His eyes grazed the Gryffindor table again and he willed them to look as dead as he felt inside, as Potter's green eyes locked with his. He averted his gaze quickly, almost lost in the moment, thinking that Lily was somehow staring back at him.

 _As you can tell Hermione, I never wanted Hades to come and kill me himself more that this night. Out of nowhere you had come back into my life, after everything you had done to me and what's worse, you are a child, a small thing in the same year as Lily's boy. 13 years I had waited for some sign of you, some inkling that you were alive and well and no matter how badly I yearned to kill you with my bare hands, but you weren't even born yet, you didn't even exist! You told me that you would reappear one day and when the time came everything that we had endured would work out, that we would finally be together._

 _But is this what you meant?_

 _For me to long for some silly Lolita type romance, to leech and prey upon your childish mind and body? Did you honestly think that I would be okay with such a thing? Or did you not think this far, one day by chance your 11-year-old self would find her way to this old man that wore a leash and collar from two very identical masters! Curse you woman and yet why are you not here? Not the one who has barely come into her womanly self but the same beautiful and vibrant flower that I had given my heart to, my very being._

 _Dinner had finally been finished, and no sooner were the tables cleared, that you along with the rest of the students, began to make their ways out of the great hall. Dumbledore had almost slipped past me towards one of the staff doors, but Minerva had caught the headmaster before he exited, making her statement loud enough for me to hear._

"Albus, might I and Severus have a word about this years' Gryffindor and Slytherin inter-house relations? We had discussed a possible solution that we feel might warrant your insight." Severus sneered at the exchanged, watching as Qurriell slinked away, and some of the other professor's beginning to disappear as well. Vector chuckled as she passed by, mumbling how their efforts were for not.

"Why, Minerva, maybe tomorrow-No Albus, I must insist upon the request immediately." Minerva stared into the older man's obnoxious twinkling blue eyes and knew that it could no longer be avoided.

The three exited with Dumbledore leading the way to his office. Severus flashed back to the last time the trio walked this path together and it only seemed to anger the Potions Master further. He was shaking with rage as his dragon hide boots fell silently along the stone trail. He could feel the memory of walking towards the headmasters office to find out that she had left, she had abandoned the plan that the two had set into motion because she no longer wanted to be apart of their dream, of the life they were going to build together. This was what sent Severus into his down fall and now he worried, as he climbed the aged stone steps, smoothed over from the decades of people who took the same path.

 _My only thoughts were, 'what news could this man give me this time, that would further destroy this shame of a life I led?'_

* * *

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: I received a review saying that they spent the whole chapter trying to understand it but that they had finally gotten what I meant. Please if you have any questions, PM me and I will gladly help you out! I failed to state in the first chapter (which could be reason for Ameretsu's confusion) that all _italic are the letter portions of the story_ and all regular font is simply what is happening in 3rd person. I do agree with Willowlux that a separate story would be better, so my goal is to post chapter's under the title 'This is Where I Leave You' simultaneously while I post chapters to this story. When this will happen, will hopefully be soon and I will let those who have reviewed when it is live. After further consideration, the title of this story 'Remember Me', I will be changing to 'This is Where We Remember' just because it will coincide better with the title of Hermione's version of events. Thank you for the reviews everyone I appreciate it and the silent followers of this as well! Again please leave a comment if there is anything unclear or confusing or simply to state any ideas or how much you like it xD. I will reply as soon as possible! Enjoy3

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The rage left the man shaking with such force that the air around them seem to crackle with the tension of his coming storm.

 _I could barely form the words I wanted to say, I felt that if I could project the darkness in me in a way that they could see, could understand my hurt, my pain. But as always, I was wrong._

The door shut behind him with a loud thud, but he could progress no further into the large circular room. The ticking and clanking of Dumbledore's little gizmos and gadgets, that littered the office, did nothing to break Severus from the dark thoughts stirring within him. Even though the rage rolled through him, he was at a lost for words. He could scream, curse the man before him, but it was as if the very thought drained him of all energy. The anger before that he portrayed in the Great Hall and as he walked to the office, it was as if he had been blocking his mind for day's non-stop. He felt naked, raw, and vulnerable, and he realized that he did not want to hear what the old man had to say after all.

Dumbledore, noticing that Severus did not progress further into the room, concerned him. Severus showed signs of defeat, of giving up and that did not do with his grandmaster plan. He motioned to Minerva to take a seat and smiled at her with thanks for not demanding answers as soon as they had entered the office. He needed a moment, but soon even that was fading quickly, as he took in the sight of a broken man beginning to retreat into himself and starting the motion of making his quick escape.

"The first day she appeared before me was August 29th, 1978, just a few short days before the start of term. She magically materialized right in this very room, dried blood caked with mud all over her face, her clothing torn and worn as if she had just emerged from a great battle. Her hair was wild like a lions mane and she wore such a fierce expression that would shame any lioness. She was weary and looked so underfed I wondered at her strength that kept her going. The young woman was on the verge of wanting to collapse but the way she looked at me as if she had seen a ghost, it gave her motive to keep alert." Dumbledore paused for a moment, staring at Severus' stiff form. Taking a seat behind his desk, he continued. "I will not go into greater details on what had transgressed, but she told me of the future, and further more, what was to come."

"But, Albus, what about the Laws of Time?" Minerva interrupted, her voice distant as she replayed the memories of her past with the very same young woman that they spoke of.

"Naturally, Minerva, I too had told her before she had continued in detail, but she confessed that I was expected to know of what the future holds. She offered important information, information that she was told to pass on in order for them to win." Albus answered her.

This time, Severus' spoke, his voice quiet, making the pair strain to hear him, "Them?"

"Us, our future selves. There were documentations, evidence to prove her story, but most importantly, there were major events that had to happen to ensure our victory."

"You mean the sacrificial lambs of Lily and her son?" Severus' voice started to grow with deadly anger.

"She knew of these events, that is correct, but she was not a contributor in their fall if that is what you ask." Dumbledore stated calmly, as he laced his fingers atop his oak wooden desk.

"It may have not been her own wand that killed her friend, but it might as well have been!" Severus' body seemed to visibly start to shake and the other two could only believe it was his anger building up further.

"Albus, please explain!" Minerva spoke, trying to interrupt the already rising tension.

"These were fixed events that needed to happen, to ensure the victory of the first war, but most importantly to guarantee our eventual success in the coming war. She was sent back to retrieve something of importance, to ensure that they would not fail. Severus, maybe in time you will learn to forgive her, but not everything she had done was for the sole purpose to ensure our victory. Her love for you was always true." By this point Dumbledore's voice held a tone of sadness and guilt. For the things he had done, what he still had to do. There truly was no rest for the wicked.

"What love?" the sound of the door screeched open upon its hinges, "there was no love." And with that the door shut again, leaving Minerva and Albus in a sad silence.

 _So here I am in my cold and dank dungeon writing you a letter that I hope someday you will read. I loved you with everything I had, I still do. And maybe that is what makes me so angry, what makes me not only hate you, but hate myself with a passion for being weak, for being the coward everyone has always claimed me to be._

So like some wild crazy beast, Severus destroyed his room, tearing to shreds years of research, mementos. Breaking whatever stood in his path…

… _If for nothing more that to feel the satisfying high of pretending each mangled thing were your limbs torn into pieces, strewed through out my entire chambers._

As Severus finally awoke from his drunken stupor, the first day of classes did not bring any grain of comfort to him. Upon checking his timetable, the first lessons were of the 5th years Gryffindor and Slytherin potion lesson and he was very sure that the little brats would out do themselves with idiocies like every term. Scanning through the rest of the week's timetable, his last class of the week would be the class that contained her.

 _For the best it would seem._

 _As always,_

 _Your Beloved Severus_


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Hello everyone! I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying this and I see a few more have started to follow this story! Very happy to welcome you and have you on the journey of this story. Like I said before I will be posting Hermione's side of Events in 'This is Where I Leave You' soon, I'm just trying to work out some kinks. It may spoil a bit of things for the ending of this story so I will not update as much until this story is completed or we are caught up to a certain point that nothing will spoil the ending of this story! If you prefer to wait and read Her side after this one that is okay too! Nothing from that story will be crucial or important to know before hand in order to carry on or understand this one. Enjoy everyone! and merry christmas!

Ps **bold is lines taken from the actual Harry Potter stories.**

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 _Dearest Hermione,_

When Friday came, Severus was beside himself with nerves. He stood behind the entrance to his classroom, onyx eyes staring at the wooden fibers of the door. His heart pounded, blood rushing through his veins and the only thing he could hear was a high-pitched ringing in his ears. He was almost tempted to leave, crawl back into his hole and wait the day that she would come back to him again with her memory of their time together. He felt as if he were drowning, in moments he would see her, actually see her before him and not from across the Great Hall. Severus had been lucky, the week had gone by and he did not run into her, he was sure that he would have put his foot right into his mouth.

 _I wasn't ready to see you or come to terms with the fact that I would not be joining you behind that desk as a fellow classmate, but as your mentor. It still made me feel sick, but what could I do? I am no coward._

Taking one final deep breath, he wordlessly threw the door open. It smacked against the stonewall with a loud noise that thundered throughout the classroom, causing the students to jump from fright. He made a dramatic show of his robes billowing out behind him and did not stop his long strides till he stood at the front of the classroom, not once faltering as his eyes found Hermione seated next to Potter. As the nerves began to set in again, it only seemed to ignite the anguish from earlier in the week, causing him to leap into his yearly speech for a bit of normalcy.

 **"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

His eyes swept the room, but an inward smile spread when he saw Hermione pushed forward on the edge of her seat, trying to etch his speech into her soul as she longed to acquire the skills to do just as he promised. He could hear the scratching of a quill and his eyes darted to the boy who sat next to her.

 **"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"  
**

The poor shite was flabbergasted, his face paled from being caught off guard but colored to a deep red from embarrassment and it truly made Severus swell with happiness inside. Though Severus could see the childish hand of Hermione's, waving back and forth with eagerness and the need to impress him, he took great joys in ignoring her as she did him.

 _I knew it was plain self-indulgent of me. To snub you, but it felt like such a small victory. How could you know that we were together once? I understood that you had been born with no memory of what was yet to come, but your ignorance to the torture you unknowingly put me through, ate up my very soul! In justification of my actions though, I did not wish you to be even more of a target to Draco as you would be later on. Yes, it did give me satisfaction to deny you to shine; it gave me even greater joy to watch Potter squirm as he did. It amused me greatly to see you jumping in your seat, even as you stood trying silently to gain my attention, I wanted nothing more than to laugh. All this was to hurt you in the ways you hurt me. If you could just but feel the pain you made me feel I was content. Yet as always, Potter knew how to ruin a spot of fun._

 **"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"**

Severus sneered at the boy as he barked at Hermione to sit down. Ignoring the flash of hurt that played across her face, He finished his lecturing of the boy and set them to task of creating a cure for boils.

He stalked around trying to calm his nerves, but his patients for first years were always little and the pressure migraine coming from the on slaughter of emotions, was making it difficult to not strangle someone. It also didn't help that Longbottom seemed to have melted a cauldron on the first day, the botched up liquid pouring down the table as it began to form a slithering puddle throughout the room. As Severus was about to offend the Longbottom boy, he heared the unmistakable yelp of Hermione in pain and took note at how the failed potion burn through the tip of her left shoe. Wordlessly he uttered a cleaning charm on her before ripping the nervous boy a new one, and then for good measures, he yelled at Potter as well.

Lessons couldn't have finished fast enough before he was thrown into another hurricane of emotions and his things were once again shattered.

 _I couldn't help but project my anger for you, for the situation that I was in, at Potter. Merlin knows how much I hated his father and the fact that the boy was a spiting image of him, except for his eyes, made it that much more easier to blame him for everything. Everything about him made my insides scream and hated the boy who had done nothing to me but simply resemble his father._

 _The castle is abuzz with a new kind of energy, not the usual magical innocence it once held. Since the start of term there seems to be something amiss and my mind is whirling with possibilities. But mostly with the Headmasters plans._

 _Dumbledore plans to forward this scheme of his, and it leaves me a bit uneasy. He sent Hagrid to retrieve the Philosophers Stone before term, with Saint Potter of course, and all I could think about was with whom had the half-giant talked to since his retrieval of the item? Was this your plan to have it hidden within the school? Were you the mastermind behind the different tasks needed in order to procure the stone? The enchantments have not been disturbed, my test untouched as well as the other ones, but someone has been trying to bait Hades' dogs. Just yesterday I had found traces of a sleeping draught mixed in with the dogs water. I have mentioned it to the Headmaster but he seems to brush it off. I have just come from checking on the dogs and the door had been tampered with. The complicated locking charm I had place was removed and a simple one was placed on it. So simple that an Alohamora could easily have unlock it and that has concerned me greatly. Any curious student could get passed and hurt themselves or worse, be even eaten by the damnable dogs. I originally thought that it might have been a student, but this was a charm that one learns and masters later on in life, one that was designed for only a fully-grown witch or wizard to be able to break. So I can only believe that it is another professor and that makes me suspicious, I have even been toying with the idea that Voldemort is involved. My mark pulses turning the lines of the tattoo dark as the day I received it before fading to the dull blackish haze. So he is somewhere attempting the impossible and I fear that before I have even gotten the chance to be with you that everything will only fall apart yet again. I fear that this time around I will not be able to make it through._

 _Forever yours,_

 _Your beloved Severus_

* * *

It was after lessons had finished up for the day when there was a short staff meeting. Normally Severus would complain through the entire debacle, but he found it useless when the topic of each side conversation happened to be about his Hermione.

"Yes, very gifted, the only one to levitate her feather!" Flitwick beamed. Minerva flashed Severus a sly smile before she to began to boast with the other teachers about Hermione's quick wit and amazing talent, but when she called upon Severus to hear of his opinion on the girl,

"Nothing more than a know-it-all that recites the text as a hobby" Though it was not his more nastier comments, Minerva decided to hold her teasing for their private conversation when they had their weekly luncheon. Taking their usual seats, Dumbledore called the staff to order but made it a point to smile politely at the empty chair that usually housed Quirrell and Severus zeroed in on this piece of information.

As Albus made it perfectly obvious that Quirrell was missing, this only proved that the war had started once again. The thirteen-year pause had been lifted and now it was simply bidding his time and making sure that the pieces of the puzzle fell into their proper places.

After relentless and pointless speeches, Albus released the group and Severus made his way down to the third floor corridor, but not before the old man beamed at them all. This only caused Severus to grumble as Dumbledore loudly said,

"Don't forget, everyone is to be present for the All Hallows Eve feast tonight!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Dearest Witch,_

 _There are a great many things that I wish I could do without handing Dumbledore my bullocks, I will be having these unnerving near murderous urges until you have finally grown some common sense. Did you not think that I would not already have enough on my plate with making sure no one attempts to resurrect the Dark Lord, or with keeping Potter safe and making sure no harm came to you, my dearest? You know how to push my buttons even now as the girl with no memory of what is to come. I almost wanted to skin you alive for your brazen lie and your lack of sense when it comes to Potter and his cohort. Happy All Hallows Eve to me._

Severus had taken a short cut past the library in order to feed that damnable three headed dog when Irma, the Hogwarts Librarian, popped her head out from the entrance of the Library in time to call attention to the Potions Master.

"Ah, Severus, could I possibly have a word with you?" Her thin lips quirked up, giving the unfortunate appearance of a vulture expressing pleasure.

Severus, not really in the mood nor had the time to indulge the old woman, was given no choice. Upon entering the Library, he took note how completely empty and dead it was. This did not stop Irma from casting a well-established privacy charm around the pair.

"Severus, I have had quite the most interesting conversation with the Headmaster earlier this afternoon." She paused, pushing her spectacles up a little before busying herself behind her desk.

"Right, well that is very interesting Irma, but I am needed elsewhere." Severus sneered as he made to leave but it seemed he would not escape the old woman easily.

"He had some very interesting things to say." she said, trying to entice his curiosity.

"Irma, please tell me that you have not dragged me in here for idle chit-chat, I am needed elsewhere at the moment."

"Severus, you will do well to shut your trap and listen to what I have to say, or I will simply burn them as he had instructed me to do so." This seemed to catch a confounded look from the young man. Only when Madam Pince was satisfied with his undivided attention, did she pull the slightly thick envelope from a hidden compartment on her desk. "He had informed me to go through all of Hogwarts School archives as well as going through all the check out cards of each book that has any record of Hermione Granger, and to burn any evidence of her existence before this year. Now as I was collecting all of these things, with many a choice words for defaming such books, that I came across something very interesting indeed. As I was going through the check out cards, I noticed how strange that a first year with the same name could be checking out books under someone who has disappeared more that thirteen years ago without a trace." She paused for effect, wetting her pursed lips before continuing. "Now I did a little investigating of my own and I stumbled upon a little girl who not only holds the same name but a striking resemblance of a young woman we used to know. When I happened to spot Minerva milling around in here, I was deeply surprised when she had informed me that indeed it was the very same woman."

By this time Severus had begun to loose the battle with his emotions. It wasn't like they could hide her true identity from the masses, eventually others would remember or begin to remember and he simply would deal with it as time went on. The only one he could not hide from was Irma, though she was not a heart warming person, she was smart and she was extremely loyal.

"What would you like me to say?"

"Quite frankly I am affronted by the fact that, you of all, have not informed me, but I shall chalk it up as you being too busy at the present to have a tête-à-tête with an old woman."

"Chalk it up to whatever will allow you peace of mind, I must go." Severus turned to leave only to be stopped by the woman again, this time with her forcibly placing the envelope in his hand. "What-I figured that you had forgotten or did not know of some of these photos what were taken for record keeping here." Irma interrupted, leaving the man to his thoughts as he opened it and began to slowly leaf through the surgically cut pages. There was a thick stack of check out cards with Hermione's name printed neatly on them and a few articles on Hermione and himself from the school newspaper on some of their independent research they were working on together. But what he found, the greatest treasure of all, was a wizarding photo of her basking in the afternoon sunlight that had trickled in from the library windows as she read. The photo continuously replaying the way her eyes scanned the section of the book before flipping to the next page, only for her eyes to sweep up at the viewer with a grin.

A distant flutter pulled him out of his reveries, bringing his mind to the future. He had things to do and pinning for a girl almost twice his junior was not one of them at the moment. Tucking the clippings back into the envelope with care, Severus continued on his way to the 3rd floor corridor to complete his task.

 _The envelope seemed to burn a whole in my breast pocket, proof of your existence, not just some schoolboy's fantasy of a life I had longed for. These clippings showed that you did exist, that you would exist, not just in my past but one day in my future as well._

 _I miss you Hermione. I miss our days together, our dreams. I wish I could feel the pleasurable moments of those last few nights we had together. I want to keep you safe, but this ugly situation we are in causes me more sleepless nights then the earlier years of your disappearance._

 _The Halloween feast is exactly as when you first arrived here I'm sure your first year self will be stunned at its splendor. Yet as I sit at supper trying to not let my guard, down for fear of Dumbledore plucking information from my mind, I continue to monitor the Great Hall for your presence. Where are you tonight? The Halloween feast was your favorite of all and you are not present for your very first one. It is half way through dinner and I cannot hold back the hard stares at Potter and Weasley as I tried to remember if you had mentioned this before._

 _Quirrell is missing too and I am looking for an excuse to leave early and find you. Quirrell's odd behavior is begin to gain more of my attention and I truly believe he is not to be trusted since this summer's holiday, I of course have brought my attentions to Dumbledore but he wants concrete evidence. I think I'm getting closer._

As Severus prepared to make his excuses and go in search of the two questionable absences, Quirrell burst through the door like a stuttering maniac, **his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.**

The room, silent through the whole ordeal, broke out into screams of terror as the students flipped over benches and dishes trying to flee the Great Hall. Severus did everything he could to not bellow for obedience and allowed the Headmaster to call order as the little puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

Severus had almost made it to the grand staircase when a couple of 4th year Slytherin's bumped into their head of house, garnering a verbal lashing for detaining him further. He needed to get to the third floor corridor and fast, before anyone else did.

Severus had just burst into the room when his eyes finding a dark hooded figure, wand out trying to move the sleeping dogs paw. Severus cursed himself for not being more careful as he slammed into the room as the hooded figure turned his wand on him, a curse missing him by a hair as he tumbled out of the way. Quickly Severus deflected and leapt out of the way of the on slaughter of curses and hexes the dark figure threw at him, pushing him towards the opposite side of the room away from the entrance.

At the commotion, Fluffy awoke and through his drowsiness, swatted his large paw at the figure closest to him while one of the heads lunged towards the hooded figured. Severus stumbled, slamming his backside into the floor, all the while pulling a shielding charm around him as another head made to lunge at him. He heard the slamming of the door and as the other two heads rounded on him, they stopped, taking note of the intruder who was still present in the room. Recognizing the still present trespasser as Severus, they quickly reversed their territorial stance into one of quiet reserve.

"Blasted animal!" Adrenaline kicking in, Severus shot to his feet, ignoring the searing pain from his injury as he made to chase after the interloper, silently hoping that the figure did not get to far. He quickly rounded the corner of the corridor that led into the stairwell and quickly spotted an absconding figure a few flights down. Severus quietly asked for the castles' assistance in pursuing the hooded figure and with great appreciation it seemed to oblige him as the stairs remained in a direct path leading down to the main floor where the other was headed. Severus trying to shoot a curse at him, growled with frustration as each one was deflected. The figure did trip down the last couple of steps, which allowed him to gain on him before the figure was up and ready to round another corner. The chase continued and as Severus took note of the direction he was headed, he managed to slip into a side corridor that would cut off the other. Yet as Severus rounded another corner he heard a scream and the sound of a thunderous thud in the direction the intruder would have been coming from. Swiftly he came upon the Headmaster, Minerva and a heavily panting Quirrell.

"Quick the noise came from the girls lavatory!" Severus scanned the corridor wildly, if the intruder had indeed gone the way he saw him flee, then surely he would have encountered him by now? Unless when he almost stumbled upon the other trio then it would have sent him off in the direction that he fled from. Barely acknowledging the trio, Severus made to go down the corridor when Minerva's voice broke through his thoughts. "Severus, come as well!" Groaning, he complied with the deputy headmistresses and followed closely behind her.

As they entered the girls lavatory, Severus was stunned to see the familiar bushy hair of a frighten girl huddled underneath the sinks, shaking with fear. Severus took note of the troll and quickly approached to make sure that it was indeed knocked out, if not, hopefully dead.

 _And as always, trouble seemed to find you without a fault._

 _I was ready to grab you by that very hair and lay you over my knee and give you a good spanking. This reaction only made me feel dirty as I remembered that this was not the woman I had fallen in love with, she was not fully here yet._

 _I tried my best to make sure you were not outwardly harmed, though judging by your continuous shaking, you were still in a bit of a shock. After gaining some type of composure, my thoughts seemed to recollect its self. While Minerva droned on about the idiocy you three had just committed, I couldn't help but probe your thoughts. Now don't get your knickers in a twist, witch! I merely wanted to know if you had been harmed internally since I could not seem so outwardly concern._

 _I did not forget Quirrell's presence in the room and he is definitely up to something._

 _It pains me to see first hand something you had once told me in confidence, how these two imbalances could actually be so cruel. Weasley with his thoughtless mouth and Potter, the silent observer as was his father. If it were not for them you would not have been here in this mess._

 _Yes, I can hear your meddling voice of justice, if it were not for them you would also have not survived what the veil creature would have had in store for you. Saint Potter at it again I see, I'll be grateful for the day I no longer am bound by this oath of stupidity to save his hind at every turn._

Severus glared at Potter and was glad when Minerva's lecturing was done. She beckoned the three adolescents, leading them to their dormitory while Quirrell stuttered on about taking care of the troll. Reluctantly, Severus exited the scene, following Dumbledore out. The pair walked silently in each other's company before they were certain they were alone. "Severus, how lucky of Minerva and I for Quirrell and yourself to happen upon us as you both did."

"Something is amiss sir and I wish to speak with you on it, immediately." Dumbledore smiled his all knowing smile and nodded as Severus followed him towards a forgotten nook. Severus was not surprised when he entered an empty circular room, devoid of any furnishings and portraits. He warded the room with a silencing charm and a notice-me-not charm before he was confident he could speak freely.

"Sir, I took the troll incident for a diversion and went to check on the stone. I was detained but was able to make it in time to stop the intruder from breaking past the barrier. He got away and as I chased after him he was going down a path that I knew I could use a short cut that would cut him off, but it only led me to where you were. I have reason to believe that Quirrell is involved."

"I agree as well Severus. I want you to watch him and I want you to engage him to find out his plans. He is going through a lot of trouble and I intend for you to find out whatever you can. I need you to look in with the recent deaths of Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid has found four this month almost drained of blood and I wonder if the two might be linked."

Severus gave pause to this new information and the wheels began turning, mentally searching his knowledge on Unicorns and the usefulness of them for anything and everything. Nodding his head in agreement, "Yes, that information could be linked I will have to do some research first."

"Get back to me when you know more."

"Good evening, sir." And with that Severus made his grand exit of billowing robes and a determined sneer plastered upon his face.

* * *

Severus slept little, if any, the previous night as he weighed the new information. So lost in thought was he, that by some twisted form of fate, his path towards the staffroom happened to run into the very girl he was concerned about. Curiosity and concern for Hermione drew him closer to the unsuspecting trio and he took a few minutes to study their interactions. He was pleased, to see the serious look of Hermione's face break into a smile as she read aloud a passage from a book he knew very well.

As he grew closer, his determination to not appear outwardly concerned was ruined by the stupidity falling from his mouth. Addressing the three, he waited till Hermione showed a copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and simply said the first ridiculous notion that came to mind.

 **"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."** Severus snatched the book and began to hobble away from the pair, but not before hearing the final bits of the trio's conversation.

 **"He's just made that rule up, Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"**

Potter's voice rang out.

 **"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him,"** If Severus' leg did not throb so much, he was sure that he would have chuckled at Weasley's bitterness, but as it were, his leg hurt like a bitch.

Tucking the book in a pocket in order to figure out what to do with it later, Severus entered the staffroom in hopes of it being empty but karma seemed to work faster than ever as of late. Filch had finally cornered him with the supplies from Poppy to finally patch up his leg.

"Honestly between Irma, you and Poppy, it's like a couple of mothering hens. Lucky for me I've got Minerva and Albus to keep me on my toes." Severus grumbled as he gave in to the demands of the Caretaker. Severus pulled his robes out of the way as the old dressings were vanished and fresh blood began to ooze out. **"Blasted thing,"** Severus grumbled **. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"  
** Argus chuckled, "Yes, they do have a way of sneaking up on you."

The pair heard the Door screeching on it hinges and both males looked to the source of the noise. Severus' eyes grew to slits as rage boiled within him

 **"POTTER!"**

 **"I just wondered if I could have my book back."  
** Came his adolescent voice.

 **"** ** _GET_** **OUT! OUT!"** Severus was huffing with annoyance as the door slammed.

"Lift ye cloak damn it! I can't fix ye up if ye don't get that damnable thing out thee way!" Argus barked, completely ignoring the younger mans tantrum as he busied himself with his task.  
"Damn shite is everywhere! I can never get a moments piece!" Severus huffed.

"Well boy, judging by thee fact that ye took a book o' his, ye be asking for his company ye self."

"I did not ask your opinion."

"No, but ye be talking as if ye wanted input so I'll be giving ye some." This earned Argus a death glare that he brushed off without a care. He had known the boy almost all his life, what with being a distant cousin on the Prince side. Just no one ever talked about it since he was born a squib.

Finally patched up, Severus sat by the staffroom window, lost in thought as he sipped his afternoon tea spiked with Filch's favorite alcohol.

"Ye'r lass, she been having trouble adjusting, Irma tells me." If Argus didn't know him so well, he would have been sure that Severus didn't hear him, but he was aware of how calculative the younger man was.

After a while Severus spoke, not as freely as he would have like, but passion was not absent from the longing in his voice. "Yes, I remember she said she had a tough time making friends when she first came here."

"She didn't have any trouble with ye."

"That's because she already knew me from this time line."

"It's not been easy for ye boy."

"No. No it has not." Severus tailed off.

Argus shifted to the side to dig in his coat for his pipe, finally grasping it he began his routine of emptying out the burnt tobacco and thumbing a fresh batch into its opening. Placing the other end at the lip of his mouth he began the process of lighting it before inhaling deeply and giving a satisfied sigh before offering the bit to Severus.

"You know I don't like to partake in such a pass time."

"Ne'er hurt to be hospitable."

"Yes, I'm aware."

"Quidditch match tomorrow, ye'r team ready?"

"Most likely not, but I'll be interested to know if I'm set on fire." Argus gave him a befuddled look, not understanding his meaning when Severus simply shook his head in a 'don't ask' motion. Falling silent Severus reflected on a lost memory where she had confessed about the time she had set a professor on fire because she had believed that her best friend was in danger.

* * *

 _You bloody vixen! You actually set me on fire! I was trying to save saint Potter and you set me on fire! I should have known that the professor you were talking about was me! I should use Argus' chains and just hang you by your thumbs! You shall be the death of me woman! Dumbledore wont even let me punish you because sensing a magical signature is not evidence enough to place someone in detention. He thinks this is funny, not to mention Minerva's constant gloating. You would be happy to know that the next Quidditch match I shall be refereeing to better protect Potter and what's left of my cloak._

 _Stop it, that wild grin I know you'll have plastered on that beautiful face as you read this._

 _I have been trying my best to keep an eye on him; I grow more concerned with the fact that there is something lurking within these walls that is after him. The drained blood from the Unicorns has convinced me that the Dark Lord is somewhere here. If blood is being drained it is because it is sustaining a life force that should no longer be living. If whom I suspect is trying to steal the resurrection stone, then it most definitely has to deal with bringing the Dark Lord back to the land of the living and I must do everything in my power to anonymously put an end to it. I have devised a plan with Quirrell, slipping my loyalties to the Dark Lord to him in hopes to coax him into divulging what is his plan is to me._

 _Everything has started again and I will not lie to you, I am very scared._

 _Forever yours,_

 _Your beloved Severus_

* * *

A/N: Thank you for the review! You are all such dears as well as my silent followers. Please leave a review if you can! I would also ask another favor, I have a comedy story that I had finished some time ago but have entered into a contest. I was wondering if you could give it a read and vote for me for the Fandom3 contest on inkitt.

fandom3?sort=popular -This is the url for where all the stories for the contest are located so that you may read and vote for other stories you may live.

stories/53513- This is the link to my story.

Now I have checked if there is a way for your to vote for the story while readying but you will have to use the first link to find under most voted category that I am number 135. (this number is subject to change after each vote so it will go lower in number the more votes it get. Much love and hope you have a wonderful New Year!

P.S. How was your Christmas!? I hope you all had a splendid time!


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